EP 02: How to Give Your Event Guests the Best First Impression

Jeff: Welcome to the Elevate Your Event podcast, where we talk about how to plan and execute an unforgettable event that will dazzle your guests and generate more income for your organization. From fundraising and securing trendy auction items to event production and logistics, get the best tips and advice from seasoned fundraising and event professionals who have been in your shoes.

Jeff: Welcome back to the Elevate Your Event podcast, and we've got some rock star guests with us today. I'm Jeff Porter, CEO of Handbid, and we've got Lori Mackay.

Elise: And I'm Elise Neuebauer.

Jeff: They are event experts, and today we're going to talk about the event entrance experience -- that first impression your guests are going to get when they show up at your event. We think first impressions are absolutely the most important. Back in the day, prior to everybody using technology, it was always the event exit that was frustrating people because they were standing in long lines at the end of the event, waiting to check out and get all their stuff. That's really transitioned now, and I think in this day and age it's about what the experience is like from the moment they buy a ticket to your event, get in their car, and get there, right? And all the way through. Let's talk about arriving. Let's also talk about what actually happens when they walk in the door -- if they walk in the right door, of course.

Lori: That's key.

Jeff: And we've talked about this a lot, right? We gather on a weekly basis and talk about how certain events went. It seems like the entrance topic comes up the most in terms of our observations. I equated it to this: I landed in Dallas one day and I was going to stay in this hotel. I'm either going to Uber to the hotel or they have a shuttle. I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to save some money, I'll just get in the shuttle. I call the hotel. "Yes, sir, we have a shuttle that comes every 10 minutes. It should be there in the next five." Well, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Then the shuttle comes by, blows right past me.

Elise: Yes.

Jeff: And then goes back to the hotel. I call the hotel again. "Oh, I'm sorry, he missed you. He'll come back around." He comes back around again. Blows past me again. And so then I end up in the Uber. I walk into the hotel, and how happy was I to be at this hotel? I was so unhappy, right?

Lori: Bad first impression.

Jeff: I was not in a giving mode. So then you maybe need a backup plan for people.

Lori: Agreed. And I think to start out, getting the information to your guests ahead of time is important. Is there parking? Is there valet? What should they expect? What should they bring? Is there even a coat check if it's winter? There's lots of things you can preemptively tell them, and that will just lead into a good start.

Elise: I agree, especially where to park. I just ran an outdoor fundraiser -- an outdoor concert -- a few weeks ago, and we sent out an email with a map. We go on Google Maps, take a snapshot of the venue and the location, and then start drawing in red boxes, like "park here." And then "here's the entrance." Because people need to know where to go. They don't want to guess, especially if the weather's bad.

Lori: I worked an event at a botanic gardens in town. Beautiful venue, but there were three or four different parking lots. It was confusing as you're driving in -- which parking lot was I supposed to park in? But they had signs, clear signage pointing guests to where they were going, with balloons that really pointed out which event you were heading to, because they would actually have more than one event at this venue. It had to be clear where you were going to park. I thought that was an excellent idea.

Jeff: We toured a venue recently in Denver and the question came up: where do the guests park? The venue owner says, "Well, they park around the corner, there's a parking garage." And what's going through my head is, okay, how far of a walk is that? What do you mean by "around the corner"? She pointed and I saw it. I'm thinking, there's the parking garage -- that's probably 200 yards. If it's raining at my event, that's a bad experience. So I asked, "Can we do valet?" She said, "Sure, a lot of our folks do valet." And I'm thinking, we're definitely going to have a valet option if I'm going to make my guests walk 200 yards to the building.

Lori: I like valet. And just letting people know ahead of time, like Elise said -- when they're heading to the event, what do they need to bring with them? Do they need to have a ticket?

Jeff: The bar and the drinks were very expensive at one event, and it was like trying to round up dollar bills. It was rough.

Lori: I think that's a great idea -- so they get there and you've told them where to go. They know where to park. Hopefully valet, right? I do love that option too, especially if it's free or close in.

Jeff: I had one event where it was a really big event and they had people in golf carts driving their guests from the parking lot up to the event. It was pretty cool because they'd all drive up and be happy, and they served them a drink in the golf cart.

Elise: That's fancy.

Lori: That was nice. Nice touch.

Jeff: That is a nice touch. So they get there and I think, if you're going to have them walk in the door, are they going to be waiting outside to get in or waiting inside? How important is that in certain climates? I mean, summer, even here -- we have pretty mild summers -- you don't want to stand out in the sun. Then if it's raining or snowing or freezing, there's a lot to consider. So you've got to think about that. How big is that check-in area where they're going to come in and register? What are they going to be doing outside of there? Do you have some sort of cover for them, or heat lamps or something?

Elise: Or a yelling station. Do you have stanchions? You can make them do the Disney walk with the stanchions.

Jeff: Oh, I don't know if that would make them happy. Back and forth and back.

Lori: No, we would definitely suggest against that. No significant stanchions.

Jeff: That was my experience at the airport the other day. It was completely empty at security, and I'm like, "Can you just take down some of these ropes, or do you just want to watch me?" You're literally walking a half mile to get to security through stanchions.

Lori: VIP this way and general check-ins that way. It's important for them to know that. You don't want your VIPs walking into the general check-in line. That's like your TSA Pre person walking through the regular security line. That's not what you want. So I think it is a good idea to have somebody there, or at least really clear signage right when you walk in the door.

Elise: In a well-lit area, by the way. We've been to a lot of events where I'm like, "You really want them to walk down that creepy dark staircase?" I wouldn't walk down that creepy dark staircase. We've been to places where we've moved check-in -- we've shown up and been like, "Oh no, it cannot happen here."

Jeff: Anyway -- well-lit, you walk in, you see the sign: VIP this way, general admission that way. Get your phones out, get your credit cards out. However you want to say it, in a delicate way, to say, "Hey, you're here to spend money tonight, and you're going to do it on your phone in most cases. So let's get all that ready to go before you show up." So you're checking in, and then all of a sudden it's, "Would it be Visa or MasterCard tonight?" And they're like -- well, like the security line: have your driver's license ready, so you're not fumbling looking for it.

Lori: Just don't use the TSA guys that scream down the aisle about how much liquid's in your bag.

Jeff: Don't yell at your guests.

Elise: "Open over here!" I think that's great. It absolutely makes you feel good -- someone's looking out for me. I don't have to figure out the process, right? You don't want your donors and your guests to come in having to figure out how this event works. It helps to make it clear and spell it out.

Jeff: I liken it to when I go on a cruise. Nothing's better than going on a cruise because you can check your brain at the door. You just walk in and it's all about having a great experience. They provide that opportunity with lots of people directing you where to go so you're not lost on the cruise ship -- usually, because they're pretty big. But it's just a great experience. It gives you that guest experience. We want them to come in and be freed up emotionally to be able to support the event. This is the hospitality side, right? If you think about great hotel experiences -- and the one I gave earlier -- that first impression starts with the hotel shuttle. The next person it starts with is the doorman. And after that, it's the person at the front desk. Think about it -- we're talking about the same type of process: how they arrive, how they enter, and then what that check-in experience is like. I think you can diffuse a lot of stress with all the things we're talking about. The other thing that I think we've seen -- and I love this -- not to promote alcohol, but it does work: hand them a drink when they walk in the door.

Lori: It doesn't even have to be alcoholic. If it's a hot day, an iced tea or lemonade would be great.

Elise: Bottle of water.

Jeff: A Long Island iced tea.

Elise: Or a Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Jeff: Bringing it back. Maybe have your choices -- have some options there when they come in. You can pick whatever drink you want. But here's why you want a line marshal now: once people start, they'll stand in line because they have a drink in their hand. Because normally when they walk in the door, they see the line, they see past the line, and they see the bar. They're thinking, "Oh my gosh, I have to go through all of this just to get to the bar." If you take the bar and bring it out and just give them a drink, all of a sudden they'll stand in line and chit-chat. And that's why you want the line marshal -- to say, "Hey, go inside. Lori's available to check you in." Stop talking to your friend in line. So I think those types of things definitely work. And there's a famous Texas barbecue -- there's one down in Colorado Springs, Rudy's Barbecue. Have you been down to that one?

Lori: No, I have not.

Jeff: Rudy's, when you walk in the door, they've got the Disney Universal line, whatever you want to call it.

Lori: Oh yeah, the stanchions.

Jeff: But there's a trough of beer.

Elise: Oh, I've been there. There's a trough of beer!

Jeff: You go in and grab your beer, open it, stand in line, and drink it. Then you put your empties on the counter and they charge you for them when they take your food order.

Lori: That's such a great idea, isn't it?

Elise: I also like having maybe entertainment. I put on an event for our school, and we have a couple kids in orchestra play a little song. We're raising money for the kids, so you have a couple orchestra kids playing. I saw one where there were dancers. Some kind of entertainment, something to keep their mind off of waiting, is always good.

Lori: My favorite most recently was a photo booth. They had a photo booth as you walked into the venue. You went through the front door, there was a big photo booth there. They were handing out appetizers and they were giving out their signature drink -- it was just one drink. People were walking through that photo booth and it disseminated the line. So it appeared as if there wasn't a check-in line when there actually was. They just had stuff to do before they entered into the actual check-in experience. It diffused the line, which was awesome.

Jeff: I think that's a great idea. The other one I saw that was good: there was a really big football game on, and you could tell people were super annoyed. So in the check-in area, they put TVs up on stands with the football game on.

Elise: Genius. Or what about TVs that have -- maybe if you have auction items at your event -- TVs displaying a variety of auction items and activity happening? That would be kind of cool. People would have something to look at, like the Disney line when they have the entertaining TVs and different things to keep you busy.

Jeff: The line shouldn't be so long that you require a giant entertainment venue before they go in. But we're saying, let's spread it out a little bit. Staggered check-in as well -- have a VIP time, have a longer window for people to come before dinner so they're not all arriving at the same time. That's another tip.

Elise: I think planning matters. We have events on Thursday nights, Friday nights, and knowing that people are coming right from work -- they're going to feel frazzled, they might roll in late from a long day at work -- just knowing that and having enough time that your guests can make it, especially those people you want to donate.

Jeff: So you're saying five o'clock check-in on a Friday night is probably a bad idea, especially if you decided to make it a dressy event, right?

Elise: That would frustrate me too, for sure. No dressy events on Thursday nights.

Jeff: Friday, maybe.

Lori: The later in the day that you do check-in, the better. But if you are, I love the VIP check-in concept. If you're going to do one, check them in there. We've seen a lot of events where they say, "I'm going to do VIP from five to six, but I'm not going to check in any of them." And then a hundred people walk down the stairs and they're going to check in all at once. That's a bad idea.

Elise: Agreed. The timing of your guest arrival is going to make it better for them. I love giving a time range. Arrival is between five and seven. Appetizers are going to be served, cocktail hour. Let them know what's happening during that time so they can determine how much time they have to get there before the event truly starts with the actual program or dinner or entertainment that you're offering. So really be clear with your guests before they arrive and give them that breathing room. And check your board members in early. They're going to show up early anyway. You've got a check-in team trying to get everything organized. Check-in starts at 5:30, it's five o'clock, and these people want to check in. Just get them taken care of in advance. You know the plan -- you don't need them showing up 15 minutes before check-in. You can get all that taken care of.

Jeff: Some other gotchas at check-in: I think having enough volunteers to help -- whether that's doing check-in at tables, giving out paddles, taking credit cards, or being line marshals. And find what that volunteer is gifted at. You're not going to have someone who's not comfortable on a computer be at a computer. Have them be somewhere else. You can't have too many volunteers, ever.

Lori: No, I agree. Especially at check-in.

Elise: Especially if they're good and they show up on time.

Jeff: I've never worked an event where I'm like, "Oh man, I wish we didn't have that many volunteers." It's usually the reverse: "Oh man, we really could have used some people to help get stuff to the people that needed it." When you're planning the experience for your guest, what is your objective for their reason for checking in? Why are they checking in with you? Is it to get, like Elise said, the paddle number for the live auction? Is it to get access to a mobile device or something to be able to bid online? Is it to give them drink tickets? Which I'll tell you -- if you give drink tickets out at check-in, people will not skip check-in.

Elise: Ever.

Jeff: Ever. So drink tickets work.

Lori: Or are you doing too much at check-in? I think we experience that as well, where we're trying to do 50 things at check-in and it's frustrating for the guest. So my suggestion is having more of a tiered check-in experience, where maybe they check in to make sure they're registered to participate in giving, whatever that looks like for you. And then maybe they go down the hall for their drink tickets and a name tag if you decide you want to do name tags at your event -- which is a whole other podcast for us. But having a tiered experience so they come in, do one thing with you, then do one thing with somebody else, and they're moving along in the process.

Jeff: We've seen this as a challenge, right? When you think about what you're asking your check-in staff to do -- don't make them check in coats, whatever you do. Have a coat check, and have it separate. I've checked in coats. I've given out drink tickets. I've given out raffle tickets. I've validated parking. I've sold t-shirts. I've given out coupons based on meal choice. I've checked IDs and put on bracelets. A lot of those things can be pushed further down the road. You can get meal choice right off their ticket, so you can go ahead and get that pre-planned, or you can have them go to a different station where they can ask one person, "Hey, I have a special meal request. I need gluten-free or a vegan meal," give them the ticket and let them go on. Don't do that at check-in.

Lori: The other thing I would say is, if you have all these things -- VIP wristbands, drink tickets, whatever -- and it varies based on who they are, we've found it works better not to put them in a folder with their name on it behind the table. All of that can be in whatever check-in system you're using, and you can just grab them and hand them over. Because what I've seen a lot is you go to grab their folder and it's like, "Okay, this is what they get." Then you hand it to them and they're like, "Oh no, I'm a VIP. Where's my VIP wristband?" And you're like, "It's not in here."

Elise: That's a great point. A VIP should never have to say "I'm a VIP," because they're a VIP. Their experience should be different and elevated beyond the experience of a general guest. Not that they're not all important, but a VIP should never have to say "I'm a VIP" at all, all night. They should know it and they should feel special because that's what they are. I like a VIP check-in. I like a VIP cocktail hour. I like a VIP lanyard. Whatever it is -- a crown, a sash, whatever you want for them.

Jeff: They can feel as uncomfortable as you want!

Elise: Totally. They should have light-up everything.

Jeff: But I mean, at check-in, discover the purpose of your check-in and walk through it yourself before the event. As a guest, try to put on clean eyes and demo what it would look like for somebody to walk into your event. Are they going to have a wonderful experience?

Elise: You're bringing them into your home and asking them to give you money, no less. And that's the type of check-in staff you want. When you're talking about making sure you match the right skill set to the job -- you can put the Attila the Hun dictator out in the parking lot to make sure people are parking in the right spot, but don't put them at the door to greet people.

Jeff: And the same thing at check-in. You want staff who will ask them how their night is going. "Hey, how's it going?" I've been to so many events where someone just looks at the guest and goes, "Name." Is that really how you want to start the conversation? I don't want to start the conversation that way. I'd rather say, "Hey, how are you guys doing tonight? Can I get your last name? I'll get you checked in for this event." And then they tell you and you can start having a conversation with them. You can make it light, saying stuff like, "Are you both going to be bidding tonight?" And they'll look at each other, "I don't know." "Well, who just wants to pay the bill at the end of the night?" And they laugh and say, "My wife will do it." "Okay great, let's get you set up on your phone. Do you want to use his credit card?" And she always says yes. That kind of stuff lightens things and gives people direction, like, "Here's what you guys do next -- coat check's over there, bar's right over there, here's your two drink tickets, here's the bathroom."

Lori: Right. That's a big one. Usually they get asked. And ideally, your staff knows where all these things are. Your staff also knows the information of the night. People will ask: "When is the auction closing? When will the bars close? How long do I have to get my car at the end? When's dinner? Where am I sitting? Is there an after party?" You don't need to share all that with everyone because that will just take extra time, but have that knowledge ready.

Jeff: No, I think that makes sense. And if you're doing seating, one of the things I've also noticed is that it's really hard for your check-in team to handle all the seating issues people have. So it works well to have somebody from your organization in charge of the tables who can handle that. You can escalate those issues when they walk in saying, "Well, I don't want to sit with Elise. I want to sit at this other table." And you say, "Well, I'm really not the person that can make that decision. But Lori can help you at the end of the table with your seating issue."

Elise: Or I love it when we have seating assignments and the ability to view seating assignments right at the doors they're walking into for dining. Because if you think about most events, there's a cocktail hour, they're hanging out, hopefully drinking, having a good time, perusing auction items and other fun games. They're going to forget what their table number is. They could even misplace it if you wrote it on something. They don't know half the time. So just having that option -- somebody at the door who can say, "Hey Bob, welcome. So glad to see you. You're at table 13." Just to give them that peace of mind. Again, you're welcoming them into your home. You want them to know where they can sit and how that's going to work.

Jeff: And if you've got a system where you have your cocktail hour, you can send a strategic text message out to your guests right when cocktail hour is ending and they're ready to head into the dining room: "The dining room is now open. Don't forget, you're seated at table 12. Have fun. Silent auction closes at six. Don't forget your paddle number, bring it with you."

Elise: Or you can even put your paddle number on the text.

Jeff: Even better. So I think keeping that constant flow of information from the moment they come in until the moment they get checked in -- and then after check-in, what's their next step? Where are they going next? Knowing that and saying, "Oh, you're going to head over here to get your name tag." I actually worked at an event that had name tags before you actually checked in. And I had the best time at check-in messing around with people because they would walk up, forget that they had their name tag on. And I would say, "Elise, welcome! I'm so glad you made it." And then they think I know them.

Elise: It's so funny watching their faces.

Jeff: But it loosened them up. They felt welcome. And it's also super handy because you know how to spell their name. I guarantee, with my name, I'm spelling first or last or both.

Elise: Yes, you are spelling first for sure.

Jeff: I'm a big fan of -- if you're going to do name tags, do it ahead of time.

Lori: Agreed. And don't make them the ones that you have to pin. I like a lanyard. I think a lanyard's a nice option. It doesn't get stuck in your hair. The sticker doesn't work on the polyester dresses that women wear. And then the ones that you have to pin on -- we were at one event, and that's kind of awkward.

Jeff: Yes, it is a little awkward. I'm sitting there like, "Can you just do it for me?" Because I'm trying to do this and I'm going to stick myself. There's no doubt about it. And so now the check-in lady's standing up and pinning my name tag on.

Elise: We're getting personal here.

Jeff: I was like, hello! That's weird. But I just had a breath mint, so it's totally good.

Lori: Who wants to put holes in their clothing either? I don't. And everybody will wear a lanyard. If you put them at the tables, they're not going to put them on. They're just not. But if you put them on at the beginning, then they think they have credentials. And they feel important.

Jeff: I like that.

Elise: We showed up at one event and I was like, "Can you get them to turn the escalator off?" And they said, "Well, why would we do that? Then the guests have to walk up the stairs." I said, "Because you literally have five or 600 people coming tonight and you've got six check-in desks, like literally 10 feet off the top of the escalator. How do you expect that's going to work?"

Lori: That's a hazard. That's got to be like a fire hazard.

Elise: That's scary.

Jeff: I went to this event one year and check-in was downstairs and the event was on the fifth floor. I was by myself and I'm thinking, okay, I'm going to get an elevator workout. So I walk in, I'm like, "Hey, do you have the check-in volunteers that you promised?" "Yep, they're right over there." I look over. It is eight fifth graders.

Elise: Oh no.

Jeff: I said, "Okay, they're not going to work out." He's like, "Well, there's a couple older sisters." So I ended up with four ninth graders out of the mix. It was all kids -- it was a kids' event. I take the four ninth graders and I'm like, "Okay, I'm going to put you on these computers and you're going to have to check these people in." And they had name tags, but they were not pre-done.

Lori: Oh, they had write-in name tags?

Jeff: Well, but the ninth graders were doing it. So I came running back downstairs and I look -- I'm like, let them write their own name. Because one girl would write "Elise" and then she put a heart at the top.

Elise: Aw!

Lori: Can you go over there to do your craft?

Jeff: I think anything where the check-in people are handwriting -- whether it's name tags or paddles -- I understand why you'd want to for paddles, but if you're going to do that, figure out which volunteers have handwriting you can actually read. One of the worst I was at was where someone couldn't -- you could not read the paddle numbers that were written because the handwriting was so bad.

Elise: Or small. The space that they have for it is so small that there's no way an auctioneer would ever be able to read that paddle. You're just losing money.

Jeff: The best is when they give you the big piece -- it's on the back of the program. That's what everybody likes to do: "I'll make the back of my program blank, give everybody a Sharpie, and they're going to write their paddle on there." I was at an event and one of the staff literally wrote my paddle number this small on an 8.5-by-11 sheet. And I was like, "Oh, can I borrow your Sharpie? I feel sorry for your auctioneer." And have pens if you are going to write anything. Have pens that work.

Elise: That would be nice. Seems basic, but it's been a struggle at check-in for sure.

Lori: The guest experience in general -- from the beginning, they didn't know where they were going. By the time they showed up at this enormous beautiful hotel, there were alphabetical lines. So there's not a lot of X's. They had like A through L and then M through Z. And I'm talking seven, 800 people at this event. The A through L people were pulling their hair out. It was so stressful. They had all these people gathered around one line. Meanwhile, X, Y, Z is empty. And they had the packets alphabetically. So you really couldn't help them much because they had a system -- packets that were all alphabetical and everything was really particular in the packet based on what level the person was. It was so much happening at check-in, whereas we could have just had the packets behind the check-in table and allowed people to go to whatever line they wanted. So by the time they finally made it through check-in, they had to go down another long hall. It really wasn't clear about how to get to the actual ballroom for the event. It was just a frustrating experience as somebody working the event. I can only imagine the frustration of the people by the time they got there.

Elise: And when they were at the event -- not to continue on too much -- they had three really loud bars in the room where they were having the program. So while they were trying to have their emotional ask to raise money, there were people partying loud at the bar.

Jeff: Oh, that weren't part of the event?

Elise: No, they were part of the event.

Jeff: Oh, you'd want to shut the bar down for that.

Elise: Thank you, Jeff. They should have shut the bar down. It was really awkward because it was this beautiful reason that they were there, a really great organization. But people were so loud at the bar that they couldn't hear. That ruined the experience for the people in the ballroom as well, trying to give to something that they find super important.

Jeff: What about the one I heard about? This was from one of our other staff members. There was the bar right next to check-in and people didn't know which line they were in.

Lori: I've been to an event like that. They kind of merged together.

Jeff: It's interesting when you talk about splitting up the names. One of the very first events we did, we show up and they had split up all the names. But they put the signs in front of the table. And once everybody started lining up, you can't see the signs, you can't see anything. So we were like, "Hey, can we just let them go wherever?" And they said no, because what they had next to each check-in team was a contact card. They wanted you to hand the guest the contact card and say, "Look through this and make sure everything's correct. And if any of your information is not correct, here's a pen, will you fix it?" So we're trying to do check-in and I'm like, this is going to be a total mess. Well, the person next to me who was holding the cards dropped them all. And now they're out of order. She picks them all up and everybody's coming up and she's looking through these cards looking for their name. I'm like, "Can we kill the contact card?" But that's the type of stuff -- a lot of people feel like check-in is the great opportunity to get all your information up to speed. We did a school auction and they -- if you had a tuition bill due and you showed up, they wanted you to take care of it.

Elise: Oh, boy.

Lori: Don't do that.

Jeff: That's really weird, isn't it? I was like, "Can that go over there? Out of this space?" And then one event we did recently was similar. Everybody thinks they're saving all this time by pre-packaging everything or pre-assigning paddle numbers. In almost every case, in our experience, you create more chaos than you solve. You slow check-in down. At this event, they had these boxes of paddles in manila folders. They were all numbered, going from maybe 100 up to a thousand or whatever, in this long row. And in front of that, we had 12 check-in stations with enough space for literally no one to walk, because when you sat in your chair, behind you there was maybe one or two feet. And you'd be at one end and you'd be like, "I need paddle 126." That's way down there. And then they'd start handing them down, and they'd hand it to you. You'd open it up and they'd be like, "Well, where are my drink tickets?" "I don't know." "Well, I get two drink tickets. Where are they?" What do you do at this point? Because paddle 126's folder is already handled. Or they put things in the wrong one.

Lori: It's just easier for the system to say, "Oh, you're a VIP and you get two drink tickets." Give them those and be done. And isn't it a better experience for the guest, instead of having to open a packet and have that little bit of anxiety like, "Well, did I get what I needed for this event? I don't know, let me open my packet first to see. Oh no, I don't have what I need." As opposed to, "Hey Bob, thank you so much for coming tonight. Here's your two drink tickets. Here's your paddle number. We're going to send you a link for the silent auction. Your next step is to head down there and get your name tag." Isn't that just a more hospitable way of bringing somebody into your event, rather than "Here's your packet, figure it out yourself"?

Jeff: I think just overall, making it easy for your volunteers, making it easy for your guests, making it easy for your staff -- one approach that works well is going into the event thinking, "How easy can I make it?" Simple is easy, right?

Lori: Right.

Jeff: So no, it's a great conversation. Going back to what we talked about: from that first email through where they park, how they're entering, what that experience is like up to that front desk experience -- like you're checking into a hotel -- what are you having them do? And then the entrance into the event itself is super key. They walk in there, they're happy, they're in that giving mood versus the bad mood. Or, as my daughter likes to say, they're all Who's and they're not Grinches.

Lori: You definitely want to set that scene. And then you can hand it over to the dinner experience. From that point forward you have a program and dinner and you wrap it up nicely. And potentially in one of these podcasts we'll talk about a good exit for guests as well.

Jeff: But for the moment they come in -- whether you do a check-in or not for your event -- they need to have a great experience introducing them to the process. We could riff for hours on event experiences, especially the bad ones.

Elise: But there's been many good ones.

Lori: There's a lot of good ones. We're not here to tell you they're all bad. More good than bad.

Jeff: I think more good than bad. After this episode, yours is going to be a good one, right? That's our intent.

Elise: Good luck.

Lori: Yes, good luck with it, and we'll see you guys next time.